Superintendent's Newsletter 08.23.2024

Posted Date: 8/23/24 (2:13 PM)

Family Newsletter | August 23, 2024

Dr. Jennifer O'Neill
joneill@norton.k12.ma.us
@joneill727

Welcome Back!

Norton Families,

Welcome back to another great year of learning together! Our teachers and staff are very excited to welcome back our students for the 2024-2025 school year.

As a reminder, the first days of school are:

Tuesday, September 3rd for students in Grades 1-12
Wednesday, September 4th for Kindergarten
Thursday, September 5th for Little Lancers

One of the most exciting aspects of returning to school for so many of our students and families is receiving your teacher assignment for the upcoming school year. Elementary classroom placements were sent to families on Tuesday, August 20th. Middle School team placements will be available to students on August 26th. Students can check their emails on August 26th for information on team placements.

The beginning of a new school year is always my favorite time of the year. I hope that your children are just as excited for the start of school and the possibilities that lay ahead!

I can’t wait to see our Lancers soon!

Back to School Events

Elementary Open House

Our elementary schools will be hosting Open House events for students and families prior to the start of school. This is a great opportunity for students to visit their classrooms and meet their teachers.

J.C. Solmonese Elementary

August 27

PK AM/Full Day - 4:30-5:00 p.m.

PreK PM - 5:00-5:30 p.m.

K/Gr. 1 - 5:30-6:00 p.m.

Gr 2 & 3 - 6:00-6:30 p.m.

L. G. Nourse Elementary

August 27

Families A-L 5:00-5:30 p.m.

Families M-Z 5:30-6:00 p.m.

H. A. Yelle Elementary

August 28

Grade 4 - 6:00-6:45 p.m.

Grade 5 - 7:00-7:45 p.m.

6th Grade Welcome Social

Calling all 6th graders! Please join the NMS team at the 6th Grade Welcome Social on Wednesday August 28th from 5:00-6:00 p.m.

Freshman/Transfer Orientation at Norton High School

Monday, August 26th from 5:00-6:00 p.m

Universal Free Meals and Qualifying for Free/Reduced Status

Children need healthy meals to learn, and Norton Public Schools offers healthy meals every school day. Universal Free School Meals has been made permanent in Massachusetts starting in the 2024-2025 School year! This means that families will no longer be charged for breakfast or lunch.

Your students may qualify for free meals or reduced price meals, and if you have not received a notice of direct certification status for this school year from NPS by Wednesday, August 28th via email, we urge you to apply through the online application. Qualifying for free or reduced meals is also used by the Norton Public Schools to provide reduced fees on Athletics, Transportation, and AP and similar testing fees.

For the first 30 days of this school year the free and reduced status of families will carry over from where it was at the end of the 2023-2024 school year. For a list of FAQs please visit our Food Service page. If you are new to the Norton Public Schools or did not have a free or reduced meal status at the end of last year and do not receive a letter of direct certification next week, you may complete an application. If you have any questions, please contact me, Kristine Hadfield, School Business Administrator, at khadfield@norton.k12.ma.us.

Again, if you receive communication from the Norton Public Schools that your student(s) directly qualified via direct certification from the state, please do not complete an application.

From the Transportation Office

School Bus Routes for this 2024-25 School Year will be available, Wednesday, August 28th, 2024. Please note that all times are an estimate and students should be outside 10 minutes before the time listed.

School Start Time Committee

Last Spring, our district began an Alignment Study, the purpose of which was to look at projected enrollment data and space availability within our schools, start and end times, as well as transportation, etc. At this time, we are looking specifically at school start times for the 2025-2026 school year. We ask our families to take 10-15 minutes to complete the survey below. In this survey we are asking you to provide information on how our current start and end times work for your family and what we can do to better align our schools.

Please complete the survey by Friday, September 13th. Your input is very important to this process and will be considered by our team as we look to provide the Norton School Committee with recommendations for the following school year. If you have any questions, please reach out to Dr. Brian Ackerman, Assistant Superintendent, at backerman@norton.k12.ma.us

https://forms.gle/SvnNyrn7Q1k4t1ef7

UPCOMING EVENTS

August 26th

Freshman/Transfer Orientation - Norton High School

August 27th

Open House - J. C. Solmonese Elementary and L. G. Nourse Elementary

August 28th

Open House - H. A. Yelle Elementary

September 17th

Curriculum Night - H. A. Yelle Elementary

September 18th

Curriculum Night - J. C. Solmonese Elementary and L. G. Nourse Elementary